"The Lost Art of Catechesis"

Every time I read an article from Christianity Today that has to do with Anglicanism it makes me cringe. These are always sent to me by other, well-meaning folk, and even though I know I will probably not care for it I try to make to sure and read them. One of the latest two that I received is called the "Lost Art of Catechesis", co-written by Dr. Gary Parrett, a professor at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, and the renowned English theologian J.I. Packer. The general thrust of the article is fine - we need more catechesis... pastors teaching their flocks. That is all fine and true. But the thing that puzzled me about the article is that while singing the praises of Luther's Larger Catechism and the Westminster Catechism it makes no reference to the Book of Common Prayer catechism! It is a strange omission, especially since one of the authors is an Anglican priest.

The 1928 Prayer Book catechism and Offices of Instruction, which expands the catechism and puts it into a liturgical format, are wonderful concise resources for discipleship and spiritual growth. I use them in preparing young people and adults for confirmation. The Prayer Book envisions these offices being lead by a minister, which is exactly what the authors of this article say ministers need to be doing. The only reason I can think of that he would exclude the Prayer Book catechism is because it avoids the glaring theological errors contained in other Reformation catechisms, which errors Packer has been committed to for many years now. That is probably why he rarely writes on the Prayer Book, or discusses its offices in his works. He does from time to time comment on the Articles of Religion, and gives them a curious Calvinistic spin, but the Articles are not (and never were) part of the Prayer Book, and so do not fall under the Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi rule. The Book of Common Prayer, of which the catechism is a part, commits the English Church to a truly reformed Catholicism, and in my estimation that is just too much for Dr. Packer and company.